MBB: USA South Conference

[narch]

i couldn't attend the games today, but i hate that i missed them - a total of 3 ot's between the men's and women's games - sounds like both games were just incredible and i couldn't be more pleased with the men's result - the monarchs need a win on sunday to finish the first half of the conference season strong and stay in the race - browsing the box score, it looks like the captains again struggled with rebounding...shuford is 6'2" and about 195 lbs, but pulled down 13 boards against the much larger captains - lee had a huge second half and really lifted the monarchs while bascom continued his precocious play - great effort, monarchs...repeat it on sunday

[PrideFan1986]

i couldn't attend the games today, but i hate that i missed them - a total of 3 ot's between the men's and women's games - sounds like both games were just incredible and i couldn't be more pleased with the men's result - the monarchs need a win on sunday to finish the first half of the conference season strong and stay in the race - browsing the box score, it looks like the captains again struggled with rebounding...shuford is 6'2" and about 195 lbs, but pulled down 13 boards against the much larger captains - lee had a huge second half and really lifted the monarchs while bascom continued his precocious play - great effort, monarchs...repeat it on sunday

Congrats to Methodist on a big win. Go get another one tommorow

[exmonarchsid]

Congrats to the Monarchs on the big OT win over the Capts. Great game by Lee. Normally, he has played stronger on the road in his Methodist career, but came up big today at home. Another strong outing by Shuford. He's simply a beast with that football player mentality and "never quit" attitude. I don't know what's in the water, but CJ and Captains are getting that Riddle Center curse - four defeats at Methodist in the last five seasons. Way to go guys - extend the Riddle winning streak tomorrow against Shenandoah.

[notamensa]

it looks like the captains again struggled with rebounding

they dont rebound because it obviously isnt important to them. you never see them go to the boards when they or a teammate take a shot. its almost as if they are certain that every shot they take is going to go in. doesnt the coach notice that they are getting killed on the boards? doesnt he look at the stats after the games? he must not. either that or he has absolutely no control over his team and cant get them to go to the boards. they are too big to just not be very good at rebounding. they must not care. scoring is more glamorous, i guess. lewis and bgame with 4 rebounds each in

[notamensa]

73 minutes combined. our point guard with that many on his own. no one on the team with more than a single offensive rebound. its pathetic.

[notamensa]

and, oh yeah... congratulations to methodist.  good win.

[narch]

here is the game story from the fayetteville observer

mensa, my first thought when looking at the box was similar to yours...how can blassingame and lewis not dominate rebounding numbers against a 6'2" post player and a guy in radmanovic who, while having size (6'7"), has never been known as a rebounder - those 2 combined for 21 rebounds to the 8 lewis and blassingame had combined...on paper that looks like the difference in the game

[notamensa]

thanks for the link, narch. the most telling sentence in the article: "Antwin Shuford tipped in a missed jumper from the left wing by Bryan Pittman for the game-winner."  In other words, the captains fail to get in position for the rebound and let their opponent take down another offensive rebound. this one the game winner.

[notamensa]

and heres the kicker; i still think that cnu will give greensboro a good game today. because they only play 6 players deep into their roster, they will be dead tired from the ot loss. but i think they will still play to the level of their competition and make it a close game. but they will still lose.

[cnufella1]

I was one of about 10 CNU fans at the game yesterday. I talked with Blasingame's Dad after the game and seems Mark had a pretty severe ankle turn in practice Thursday.  He had a noticeable lack of mobility and was not able to elevate or move well laterally.  Little surprised he played most of the game.  While much can be made over CNU's rebounding, we were up as many as ten in the second half, up by seven with 7 minutes to go, then were out scored 18-3 before making a furious comeback in the last couple of minutes to tie the score. We came down probably six times straight without taking a shot. I'm pretty sure I heard Korey scream bank when he shot the three to tie the game at the end of regulation! I sincerely hope we can get it together at the point, Davon has the talent—hands down, but his confidence right now is obviously  hurting.  If the old Davon can comeback CNU will be fine—keep your head up dude—you can do it.  Theo played a great game.  Short bench hurts. 

Greensboro is very athletic, could be a LONG day today unless we have solid guard play and we rebound well.  Uh-oh.   

[PrideFan1986]

Greensboro will be doing live stats at the game today as well as a webcast. Here is the like to the page:

http://www.gborocollege.edu/athletics/sports/PrideNet/2006-07/0607webcasts.html

The GameCast link is to the live stats.

[notamensa]

cnufella1,

im glad that someone from cnu was at the gme. didnt i see in the box that the total attendance was under 300? 10 vocal fans can make a difference in such a small crowd. you said that "we were up as many as ten in the second half, up by seven with 7 minutes to go, then were out scored 18-3 before making a furious comeback." this to me seems an example of our incredible inconsistency this year. sometimes we just seem to fall asleep. we get a lead and coast. we open a game as though we were playing a jr high school team. that we are able to make these comebacks says to me that we have incredible potential, but we seem to be squandering it with indifference. in this regard i am really surprised, because i expected donta seldon to be a great team leader this year. he has real heart, but it doesnt seem to be rubbing off on his teammates. bgame has heart also, and i read about his ankle injury with mixed feelings. im somewhat relieved that there was an excuse for his lack of rebounding yesterday, but on the other hand im really concerned that hes injured. maybe i should change my opinion of their chances this afternoon against greensobro. barton is the biggest surprise of all lately. what happened to the guy that should have been 1st team all-conf last year?

[SU97]

mensa, my first thought when looking at the box was similar to yours...how can blassingame and lewis not dominate rebounding numbers against a 6'2" post player and a guy in radmanovic who, while having size (6'7"), has never been known as a rebounder - those 2 combined for 21 rebounds to the 8 lewis and blassingame had combined...on paper that looks like the difference in the game

If you remeber the formula I threw out at the beginning of the year...  the Dragan is the difference for MU.

[PrideFan1986]

mensa, my first thought when looking at the box was similar to yours...how can blassingame and lewis not dominate rebounding numbers against a 6'2" post player and a guy in radmanovic who, while having size (6'7"), has never been known as a rebounder - those 2 combined for 21 rebounds to the 8 lewis and blassingame had combined...on paper that looks like the difference in the game

If you remeber the formula I threw out at the beginning of the year...  the Dragan is the difference for MU.

I totally agree with you on that 97. MU is like day and night when Dragan is on or off the court. Good Luck to the hornets today.

[SU97]

in all seriousness; great win for the Monarchs, I didn't see that coming at all.  If CNU loses today then this whole thing could become out of reach for the rest of the league. (pridesport, you may have been right after all...) I was expecting CNU & GC to have the same record going in. Figured that CNU would have handled MU and that SU would give GC a run for the money.  

I only caught the SU-GC game yesterday on the radio, but it sounded like GC coasted to an easy victory in the second half.  I would think they are a little more rested than CNU - not to mention in better health. If big #50 is hurt, then I'm not sure if CNU will be able to hang with GC. Our radio guys kept mentioning how athletic and strong GC was and that they were the first team in a long time to out-rebound our guys. I #50 is out, then GC may run away with this thing. If CNU is healthy, it should be a good game.